The State Police Criminal Records Unit, described on its criminal records page, collects criminal history record information on every criminal arrest and disposition in New Hampshire from fingerprint impressions taken at arrest and from complaints and dispositions sent by the circuit and superior courts, and its Central Repository is, in the unit's words, the only source for an individual's complete criminal history for the whole state. Every arrest print is also sent to the FBI. New Hampshire CHRI has no expiration date and is removed only by a Petition to Annul granted by the court of jurisdiction with the fees paid.
Dissemination follows the purpose. For criminal justice work the unit releases conviction and non conviction data alike. For employment, housing, licensing and any other non criminal justice purpose it releases conviction data only, and RSA 106-B:14 makes the records it issues the official source of certified conviction history for employment and licensing. Public conviction history can be disseminated to anyone for a fee, while confidential criminal history, including non conviction data, goes only to law enforcement or to a person requesting his or her own record. The arrest itself, and the case behind it, are also read at the arresting police department and the court clerk, which the New Hampshire county pages list.
- $25 exactly: the fee for a New Hampshire criminal conviction check, paid in the exact amount by cash, check, money order or card at the counter, with cards refused on mailed requests.
- Notary for the full record by mail: a person's own full confidential record, with arrests and non convictions, needs a notary or justice of the peace signature and seal on a mailed form, or a government photo ID at the public counter.
- Thirty days after dismissal: for offenses disposed on or after January 1, 2019, an arrest that ended in dismissal, no prosecution or not guilty on every charge is annulled 30 days after the finding, without a petition fee from January 1, 2027.
- $325 to annul a conviction: a $125 court filing fee, a $100 Department of Corrections investigation fee and a $100 state police fee per court for a guilty finding, the last two waived for the indigent and for dismissals.
Written by SearchSystems.net from New Hampshire's own systems: the New Hampshire State Police criminal records page, the State Police page on criminal history record requests, the State Police page on criminal record annulments, RSA 651:5, annulment of criminal records, the New Hampshire Judicial Branch forms and fees page, the Judicial Branch electronic services page, the Department of Corrections inmate locator, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
Ordering the $25 conviction check
The unit's record requests page gives three ways in: an online New Hampshire criminal conviction check, walk in service at the public counter in Room 106A at 33 Hazen Drive in Concord, and a mailed Criminal Record Release Authorization form, which for the public conviction version needs no notarization. Payment must be exactly $25, payable to the State of NH, Criminal Records, by cash, check, money order, Mastercard, Visa or Discover, with cards taken only at the counter.
The result now comes as a revised Criminal History Record Dissemination Document rather than the old release form stamped no record or record attached, which is no longer returned; when fingerprints were part of the request the FBI answer arrives as a red stamp reading FBI no record at the end of the state form, or a letter if a federal record exists. The unit says the document is the first step toward an online portal for scheduling appointments, requesting records and paying.
Volunteers for a nonprofit who will work with the elderly, the disabled or children qualify under administrative rule Saf-C 5703.07 for a $10 fee, with both reduced fee forms signed by someone authorized to attest that every criterion is met.
Getting your own full record
A person who wants the complete file, non convictions included, checks the Criminal History Record Information Release Authorization Form for a full and confidential record. Mailed, the form must carry the signature, date and seal of a notary public or justice of the peace; at the counter, a government issued photo ID is enough. Nobody may collect the record on the person's behalf, which matters for annulments, where the unit tells applicants to tick the purpose code Annulment/Expungement and write that they want the full and confidential record.
The same page explains that a state and FBI check for a job, a school district or a licensing board starts at that government agency, where the applicant files the state form and pays $50, or $23 as a volunteer, and is then printed by live scan or on an inked card; the agency sends the package to the unit, which returns both results to the agency. Armed guards must call 603-223-3867 for a fingerprint appointment rather than use the online portal and arrive 30 minutes early, while unarmed guards walk in.
The New Hampshire background check guide lists the statutes that require the federal search.
Annulment under RSA 651:5
RSA 651:5 lets the sentencing court annul the record of arrest, conviction and sentence when the annulment will help the petitioner's rehabilitation and fits the public welfare, with or without a hearing unless the petitioner asks for one. The waiting periods run from completion of every term of the sentence with no new conviction except minor motor vehicle violations: one year for a violation, two for a class B misdemeanor, three for a class A misdemeanor, five for a class B felony, ten for a class A felony, ten for sexual assault under RSA 632-A:4, felony indecent exposure and any misdemeanor domestic violence offense, and two years for certain drug offenses under RSA 318-B:26.
For a violation or class B misdemeanor that was the highest offense of conviction since 2019, the court sends a notice and the prosecutor has 20 days to object, failing which the annulment is granted. Violent crimes as the statute defines them, felony obstruction of justice and any offense sentenced under the extended term statute can never be annulled, a person with several convictions must wait until all qualify, and a denied petition cannot be renewed for three years.
Non conviction cases are treated differently and, since 2019, automatically. Paragraph II-a provides that for an offense disposed on or after January 1, 2019, a person found not guilty on every charge from the arrest, or whose case was dismissed or not prosecuted, shall have the arrest record and court record annulled 30 days after the finding, or on the final determination of any appeal that affirms a dismissal, and a vacated conviction is annulled the same way.
A 2026 amendment taking effect January 1, 2027 adds that no filing fee may be charged for such a petition. Earlier dispositions may be annulled on petition at any time. After an annulment the person is treated as never having been arrested, convicted or sentenced, except that the conviction may count at sentencing for a later crime, and an application or a witness may be asked only whether the person was arrested for or convicted of a crime that has not been annulled by a court.
What the annulment costs and how long it takes
The unit's annulments page lays out the money. The court charges $125 when the petition is filed, the Department of Corrections charges $100 for the report the statute requires it to make, and the State Police charge $100 per court if there is a guilty conviction; the page's own introduction rounds the court fee to $100, so a petitioner should expect the $125 figure the page gives in its step by step list. The corrections and state police fees are waived for the indigent, for a not guilty finding, and for a case dismissed or not prosecuted, and the statute lets the court waive its own filing fee on a form the court supplies.
Before filing, the petitioner gathers the full confidential record from the unit, a driving record from the Division of Motor Vehicles, case summaries from every court involved, and ideally an FBI record, since federal charges can only be annulled in federal court. Petition forms come from the court system. Once the court approves, it mails the notice to the unit; a nol prossed, dismissed or not guilty charge comes off the state record within one to two business days, a guilty finding comes off after the $100 payment, in person by check, money order, cash or card at once, or by mailed check or money order within one to two business days, and the FBI record follows in two to four weeks.
A fresh $25 full record check afterward confirms the removal. The court call center is 855-212-1234, and the annulments line is 603-223-3867, option 3.
Court records and the new case portal
The Judicial Branch's forms and fees page notes that since September 3, 2025 every electronic court transaction paid by credit or debit card through the File & Serve or TurboCourt platforms carries a 3 percent fee, and that a credit card used at a clerk's window or by phone carries a 3 percent surcharge that debit cards avoid; fee schedules sit in the court rules, checks are payable to the specific court, and a motion to pay a reduced fee or none is available with a financial statement.
The electronic services page is the gateway for attorneys and self represented filers in the circuit and superior courts, and the branch has introduced a new case access portal called LUCIE. The criminal forms for the district division and the superior court, including the annulment petition, are grouped under Criminal on the forms page. The New Hampshire court records guide covers the clerks of the circuit court district division, where most arrests are first arraigned.
The inmate locator and the sentencing court
The Department of Corrections inmate locator, drawn from the Offender Records Office in Concord, lists a person currently incarcerated by the title of the statute of conviction, showing the original minimum and maximum release dates of the active sentence, with consecutive sentences, technical parole violations and out of state inmates sometimes lacking those dates; a listed name means the person is in custody, a minimum parole date is the earliest possibility, and a date of 2999 or 3000 marks a life or life without parole sentence.
The locator points anyone wanting the facts of the conviction to the sentencing court and its docket number, since access to court records is governed by Part 1, Article 8 of the state constitution. A person held before trial in a county house of corrections is on the county's list instead, which the New Hampshire inmate search guide covers, and registration duties are covered in the New Hampshire sex offender registry guide.
Questions about New Hampshire arrest records
Related New Hampshire records
New Hampshire readers can continue with the New Hampshire criminal records guide for conviction files, the New Hampshire court records guide for the circuit and superior court clerks, the New Hampshire background check guide for fingerprint based employer checks, the New Hampshire public records law guide for RSA 91-A, and the New Hampshire county pages for every sheriff and house of corrections.